Monday, September 28, 2009

With the weather starting to turn cool...finally, I've been heading outside to do our 'school' time. What a treat!! I think by the end of this weekend its only suppose to be 80 degrees. BRING IT ON!! Anyway, last week we were on the back porch enjoying the weather when suddenly three of my little ones (5, 4, and 2 years olds) were begging to do 'school' like the oldest two were. So I ended up pushing together some foot rests, and side tables that came with our patio furniture set, and created a nice little space for them to do 'school' on. I LOVED to see the little ones excitement, and their desire to be like the big kids. POSITIVE PEER PRESSURE!!

I am trying, to figure out how to create a fabulous outdoor classroom. Planting winter grass is right at the top of the list, and I'll probably try to get my hands on a picnic table to setup outside. My mind is racing with the unlimited possibilities of setting up an outdoor classroom. I'll never forget a passage from Laddie where little sister is talking about how the perfect classroom would be one without walls. AMEN to that! If you have any ideas on how to create an awesome classroom please send them my way.

Last Monday, we had a home economics day! We canned 5 boxes of peaches, (4 of which were mine) and boy did we have a whole bunch of sticky fun! My Mom, sister Stacy, and sister-in-law Brittaney all came over to join in the fun. I had never canned fruit before, so I had no idea what I was doing. I know this probably sounds lame, but I must say I felt almost like I was re-living a scene right out of Little House on the Prairie. I think I'm in love with canning and feeling a bit more prepared today than I did yesterday.

Brea enjoyed some 'play' time with the cousins. Its so fun to watch them play together.

Megan manned the lid station for three hours! She was such a trooper.

Cooper and Hyrum were awesome at blanching the peaches, and were able to also help with the cutting for a tiny bit.

Jarom rotated between blanching and cutting most of the day. I was so impressed with how long he stuck with it. He is turning out to be such an amazing boy!

We ended up getting over 90 jars of peaches done! WOO-HOO! I just put them on my shelf yesterday and was so thrilled to think about how yummy the are going to taste for the next year.

So, I came home from a book club at around 10pm a few weeks back, and much to my surprise all my kiddos (except the one year old) were up dissecting a frog. It had been a week of dissection, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the excitement and enthusiasm the kids displayed, as they cut open the poor little green thing. Last year, I purchased a dissection kit complete with all the tools you'd need, and quite a few specimens preserved and ready for dissection. However, I'd wimped out when it came time to actually do it. So there its been, sitting on the shelf for year now. Thank goodness Scott came to the rescue and pulled it down to check it out with Jarom.

Early that same week, Jarom had dissected an earth worm, starfish, and owl pellet. So, even though I couldn't believe the whole gang was still up at such a late hour, I couldn't help but smile, as I watched my older kids' eyes light up with intrigue and excitement. Science at 10pm at night...sounds pretty awesome to me! Okay, and it sound a bit crazy too!